It was a time not unlike our own. Everybody was doing what seemed right to them. God, who had delivered them from Egypt and given them a good land, was far from the center of their attention and affection. Because He loved them. He disciplined them by allowing their enemies to oppress them. The book of Judges is an account of the repeated cycle of apostasy, oppression, repentance, and restoration by judges whom God appointed between the years of Joshua's death and Samuel's anointing of Saul, Israel's first king. The events of the Book of Ruth take place during this period. It begins with famine and death and shows how God can work through the most devastating events of life to bring good that is both beyond our ability to imagine and far-reaching. Through the characters and events of Ruth, God put in place the human lineage of His Son, Jesus Christ.
